The invention relates to a method of displaying navigation data for a vehicle in an image of the local vehicle environment.
The invention also relates to a navigation system suitable for performing such a method, and to a vehicle comprising such a navigation system.
A method of this kind is known from the article "New frontiers for Detroit's Big Three", Ronald K. Jurgen, IEEE Spectrum, October 1988, p. 32. The cited article describes a method where navigation data for a vehicle, for example a digital speed reading, low-fuel warning, etc. is projected onto the windshield and thus combined with the view of the driver of the car. Information from a number of sensors is processed by an electronic module so as to form signals which are applied to a vacuum-fluorescent tube, after which optical elements project the light from activated segments of the tube onto the windshield of the vehicle. The driver sees virtual images which appear to float in the vicinity of the front of the car. It is a drawback of such a method that its possibilities are limited. The navigation data can be displayed in a small area only, because display in an area covering the field of view of the driver, for example an area having the dimensions of a windshield of a car, is difficult to realise and expensive. Coverage of the entire windshield requires notably a large angle of aperture of the optical system and is hence problematic and expensive.